But back in April, the owners announced that Starwood would return as the hotel's operator—only this time, it would become a Le Meridien property.

Lots of work went in to transforming the hotel—including top-to-bottom renovations of all guest rooms, suites and public spaces, as well as a new Club Lounge, two club floors, and a new restaurant and bar. Biggest of all, the hotel took away all the balconies and replaced them with floor to ceiling windows.

But the hotel is nearing the end of its metamorphosis: on Thursday, the hotel officially re-opened as Le Meridien, with four out of twelve floors now open to guests. Though the restaurant is still under construction, the Longitude Bar is open, and the rest of the property is set to be completed by early June.

The W moved out of the hotel last year which was no big loss as W has three other hotels in Atlanta. Yet even though Starwood is no longer the hotel's owner, (that distinction belongs to RockBridge Partners), it will still be the hotel's operator.

And thankfully for all of us but especially for you Starwood Preferred Guest members, the hotel will undergo 18 months of upgrades and renovations and will turn into a Le Meridien Hotel. Tomorrow's News Today reports:

No city ever needs four W Hotels so last year when we heard that the W Atlanta Perimeter would be closing, we weren't very shocked. In fact, we were kind of glad, especially since we heard the hotel might be rebranded as an Aloft.

But now that closing day is just around the corner, the hotel is going the independent route.

A tipster let us know that the hotel will be closing on June 1 and indeed, there is a note on the hotel's website with this change. The hotel will go by the boringly named Atlanta Perimeter Hotel and Suites but will remain a Starwood hotel and all the room amenities, decor and services will stay the same.

UPDATE: Another tipster says it may be rebranded as an Aloft Hotel. Cool!

Uh-oh. It looks like there is trouble brewing at the W Atlanta Perimeter. A tipster wrote in to tell us that the hotel that the hotel is in the process of being sold to an unknown hotelier. Hotel managers were even told they had until the end of the year to apply for a new job within the company.

Our tipster says the sale should be completed by the end of June but that the brand won't leave until the end of the year. For now, the hotel is open and operating as normal. And we were even able to make a reservation for later in December. So all is safe for now.

But given W's new international push-- and the fact that Atlanta currently has FOUR W Hotels, we wouldn't expect W to hold onto this property much longer.

Heard more news about the sale of the W Atlanta Perimeter? Let us know